Yafo

During May–July 2009, a trial excavation was conducted in Yafo (Permit No. A-5667; map ref. 177426–532/662686–765), following the discovery of ancient remains during infrastructure work. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Shtang Construction and Engineering Company, Ltd., was directed by A. Bouchenino, with the assistance of S. Ya‘aqov-Jam and E. Bachar (administration), A. Hajian, T. Kornfeld and M. Kunin (surveying and drafting), A. Perez (field photography), N. Zak (final plan), M. Shuiskaya (pottery drawing), H. Shor (metallurgical laboratory), R. Kool (numismatics) and L. Rauchberger (clay pipe). A. Glick, E. Jakoel and A. Dayan performed preliminary inspections at the site. Special thanks are due to Y. Yinon, A. Shehori, T. Shaham of the Land of Israel Museum, as well as to the staff of Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi.

Seven squares (T–Z; Fig. 1) were opened at the intersection of Jerusalem Boulevard and Koifmann, Elat and Raziel Streets. Remains of a building and a sewer channel from the Late Ottoman period were exposed. The continuation of the same building was exposed in a nearby excavation (Permit No. A-5733).

Squares T–X. The foundations of five walls (W4–8; Fig. 2), built of dressed stones, bonded with hamra and coated with white plaster, were exposed; the excavation did not reach the bottom of the walls. These foundations were the western part of a building that had been identified as Nabulsi House or the Yeshurun Club, based on maps from the beginning of the twentieth century CE, contemporary literature and conversations with people. The building stood in the middle of the intersection and was demolished in the 1970s when the junction was widened. Based on a coin discovered in Square Y (below), it seems that the building was erected in the second half of the nineteenth century CE.

Square Y. Two sections of walls (W1, W2), built of dressed stones, bonded with hamra and preserved five courses high, were exposed. A supporting arch was revealed beneath each of the walls. A coin that dated to the reign of Abdul Hamid II (1876–1909 CE) was discovered at the level of the supporting arch in the debris below Wall 1. It seems that these walls were part of the foundations of the building that was exposed in Squares T–X.

Square Z.A small arched cell (W3; diam. 1.2 m, height 1.3 m), built of dressed stones and bonded with hamra, was constructed at the end of a sewer channel, which apparently drained the building in Squares T–X.

The pottery recovered from the excavation dated to the Late Ottoman period and included glazed bowls (Fig. 3:1–8), plain bowls (Fig. 3:9), kraters (Fig. 3:10–13), a cooking pot (Fig. 3:14), jars (Fig. 3:15–20), among them two black Gaza-type jars (Fig. 3:18, 19) and a fragment of a decorated pipe (Fig. 3:21).